Hanger element for supporting a spring frame



Nov. 3, 1910 54-160mm 3,537,115

HANGER ELEMENT FOR SUPPORTING A SPRING FRAME Filed July 25, 1968 2'Sheets-Sheet 1 Fzy: .1

. it b INVINTOR SAMUEL S. GORDWI A'rrbnu s Nov. 3, 1970 s. E. GORDEIN3,537,115

HANGER ELEMENT FOR SUPPORTING A SPRING FRAME Filed July 23, 1968 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR SAMUEL E. GORDIN dUlmau" ammo kfrouzv UnitedStates Patent 3,537,115 HANGER ELEMENT FOR SUPPORTING A SPRING FRAMESamuel E. Gordiu, Fort Smith, Ark., assignor to Hickory SpringsManufacturing Co., Inc, Hickory, N.C., a corporation of North CarolinaFiled July 23, 1968, Ser. No. 746,969 Int. Cl. A47c 19/00 US. Cl. -207 4Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hanger element for attaching aspring frame to a crib structure, the hanger element including anintermediate portion for extension in supporting relation through anaperture in a thin plate-like portion of the spring frame, including afirst end portion formed for attachment with the crib structure andformed with a connecting segment extending perpendicularly from theintermediate portion, and including an opposite end portion extendingperpendicularly from the intermediate portion oppositely with respect toa connecting segment of the first end portion, the opposite end portionbeing proportioned to pass through the spring frame aperture to installthe hanger element on the spring frame and to retain the hanger elementin assembly therewith. Also, the opposite end portion and the connectingsegment of the first end portion are disposed for extension alongopposite sides of the adjacent spring frame portion to prevent lateralshifting of the spring frame when it is supported by the hanger element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Crib structures almost universally include ahorizontally disposed spring unit that is carried at the end post of thecrib frame by a mounting arrangement which permits the elevation of thespring unit to be selectively changed to increase or decrease theeffective confining depth of the vertical side and end panels of thecrib frame. Usually, this mounting arrangement includes a fixed bracketcarried at each end post of the crib to present a plurality ofvertically spaced projections, and a connecting element associated withthe spring unit adjacent each of the four corners thereof that can bedetachably hung from the bracket projections.

This spring unit connecting element has generally taken the form ofeither a plate member welded or otherwise fixed at each end face of thespring unit to provide hook formations at the corners of the spring unitfor engaging the end post bracket projections, or a hanger element whichis fixed to the spring unit adjacent each corner thereof for mountingthe spring unit on the end post brackets.

The plate member arrangement is relatively expensive, and it may limitthe load-carrying capacity of the spring unit unless the connectionthereto is made extremely strong. On the other hand, the hanger elementsheretofore known have provided a reasonable degree of loadcarryingcapacity, but they have increased the burden imposed on the manufacturerin packing the spring unit for shipping because of their looseprojection from the corners of the otherwise generallyrectangular-shaped spring unit. In an effort to overcome thisdifficulty, some manufacturers have shipped the spring unit with thehanger elements detached, and the ultimate user of the spring unit thenassemblies the hanger element on the spring unit. However, since safetyconsiderations dictate that the hanger element must be securely heldagainst detachment from the spring unit while in use, hanger elements ofthis type have heretofore been connected ice to the spring unit in amanner which requires the person assembling the parts to use tools andto have at least some mechanical know-how. While this assembly technique provides little difliculty to an ordinary assembleman, it may be asubstantial drawback if the ultimate user of the spring unit is a personwith little or no mechanical aptitude (i.e., a housewife). For example,in US. Pat. No. 2,895,144, issued to Feldman, a washer must be fittedonto the hanger element and a cotter pin installed to secure the hangerelement to the spring unit, and in US. Pat. No. 2,297,963, issued toKroll, one end of the hanger element must be pressed into a hole drilledinto the spring unit, presumably with a hammer or similar implement.

By the present invention, a hanger element is provided which can bereadily assembled on the spring unit without requiring any tools ormechanical ability, and which will be securely retained in assembly withthe spring unit while stabilizing it against swaying.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The hanger element of the present inventioncomprises a generally elongated rod having a first end portion thereofshaped for attaching the hanger element to the crib post bracket, havinga short intermediate portion which seats in an aperture formed in aplate-like portion of the spring frame to support the spring framethereat, and an opposite end portion that is proportioned for insertionthrough this aperture and that extends angularly from the intermediateportion to retain the hanger element in assembly with the spring framewhen the latter is supported in the crib frame by the hanger element.Preferably, the opposite end portion extends perpendicularly from theintermediate portion so that it will be disposed along the adjacentspring frame portion to prevent lateral inward shifting of the springframe with respect to the hanger element, and the attaching end portionincludes a connecting segment that extends perpendicularly from theintermediate portion for disposition along the adjacent spring frameportion to prevent laterally outward shifting of the spring frame withrespect to the hanger element.

Thus, by virtue of its unique construction, the hanger element of thepresent invention can be readily installed without any tools by simplymanipulating the hanger element to pass the retaining end portionthereof completely through the spring frame aperture until theintermediate portion of the hanger element seats in the aperture, andthen mounting the attaching end portion of the hanger element to thecrib post whereupon the retaining end portion will assume a positionalong the adjacent portion of the spring frame to prevent removal ofthis retaining end portion back through the aperture whereby the hangerelement will be positively retained in assembly with the spring frame aslong as the latter is supported in the crib structure by the hangerelement. Thus, since this extremely simple installation procedure can bereadily carried out by the ultimate user of the crib structure, packingof the spring frame for shipping is greatly facilitated because thehanger elements need not be preassembled at the corners of the springframe.

Moreover, once the hanger element is installed in place, its particularshape acts to preclude lateral shifting of the spring frame with respectthereto so that the spring frame will not sway from side to side in thecrib structure, and this shape also adds to the effective holdingcapability of the hanger element because any tendency of the hangerelement to deform at the spring frame load bearing portion thereof willnot eliminate the retaining characteristic of the retaining end portionof the hanger element.

Finally, after the hanger element has been assembled with the springframe, the attaching end portion of the hanger element can still bepivoted outwardly with respect to the spring frame to facilitateattachment of the hanger element to the crib post of a crib structurehaving a greater-than-average width.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a cribstructure in which a spring unit is supported at an intermediateelevation by hanger elements according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation corresponding to FIG. 1 and illustrating thespring unit with one end thereof supported at a raised elevation and theother end supported at a lower elevation;

FIG. 3 is a detail side view of a portion of a crib structureillustrating the hanger element supporting the spring unit from an endpost attachment projection;

- FIG. 4 is a plan view of the portion of the crib structure illustratedin FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the crib structure taken along line 55 inFIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a hanger element according to the presentinvention; and

FIG. 7 is an end view of a hanger element according to the presentinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to theaccompanying drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a crib structure 10having end posts 12 provided with vertically spaced projections 14 fromwhich a spring frame 16 is hung using hanger elements 18 installed inthe spring frame 16 at each corner thereof and engaging selectedprojections 14. To raise or lower the spring frame 16 from its middleposition in the crib structure 10 as shown in FIG. 1, the hangerelements 18 are disengaged from the center projection 14 at each cribpost 12, and engaged in either the upper or lower projection 14, FIG. 2illustrating the spring frame 16 attached at a lower projection 14 and ahigher projection 14 to demonstrate an intermediate position of thespring frame as it is being raised to the upper projections 14 orlowered to the bottom projections 14.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the hanger element 18 of thepresent inventon comprises an elongated rod having a short intermediateportion 20 from which a re taining end portion 22 extends inperpendicular relation thereto, and from which an attaching end portion24 extends generally oppositely with respect to the retaining endportion 22, the attaching end portion 24 being formed with a generallyU-shaped segment 26 and with a connecting segment 28 that extendssubstantially perpendicularly from the intermediate portion 20. Theextreme end of the attaching end portion 24 is provided with a sphericalcap member 30 of suitable material for covering the rough edges thereatand for facilitating handling of the hanger element as it is manipulatedduring installation thereof.

To install the hanger element 18 in place, it is first mounted in thespring frame 16 by passing the retaining end portion 22 longitudinallythrough an aperture 32 formed in a thin plate-like flange 34 of thespring frame 16 whereupon the hanger element 18 is then manipulated todispose the retaining end portion 22 along the inside wall of the flange34 with the intermediate portion 20 seated in the aperture 32, it beingnoted in this regard that the retaining end portion 22 is proportionedto be easilyinserted through the aperture 32. Next, after a hangerelement 18 has been mounted at each corner of the spring frame 16, theU-shaped segments 26 of the hanger elements 18 are placed about selectedprojections 14 on each of the four crib posts 12 in a manner illustratedin FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.

With the spring frame 16 supported by the hanger elements 18 in thismanner, it will be noted that the disposition of the retaining endportion 22 along the inside surface of the flange 34 not only acts toretain the hanger element 18 in assembly with the spring frame 16because it cannot pass back through the aperture 32, but it also acts toprevent lateral inward shifting of the spring frame 16 with respect tothe hanger element 18. Likewise, since the length of the intermediateportion 20 is only slightly greater than the thickness of the flange 34,the connecting segment 28 of the attaching end portion 24 is disposedalong the outside surface of the flange 34 to prevent lateral outwardshifting of the spring frame 16 with respect to the hanger element 18.Therefore, any tendency of the spring frame 16 to sway from side to sidein the crib structure 10 is effectively eliminated by the hanger element18.

A further feature of the hanger element 18 of the pres ent invention isits ability to withstand a large load without danger of deforming to anextent which will cause it to become disassembled from the spring frame16. Thus, looking particularly at FIG. 5, it will be observed that evenif the load carried by the intermediate portion 20 should become largeenough to cause partial straightening of the hanger element 18 at thebend 36 therein, the retaining end portion 22, by virtue of its angularextent from the intermediate portion 20,W011ld still positively retainthe hanger element 18 in assembly with the spring frame 16. When thehanger element 18 is formed of five gauge low carbon wire, actual testshave indicated that the four hanger elements 18 can withstand a load ofat least 200 pounds repeatedly dropped onto the supported spring frame16 without disassembly of the hanger elements 18.

An additional feature of the hanger element 18 is its ability to permitthe attaching endportion to be pivoted away from the spring frame 16after assembly therewith so that the U-shaped segment 26 can, ifnecessary, be

placed about a crib post projection on a crib structure having agreater-than-average width. Thus, again looking at FIG. 5, if the cribpost -12 were located to the right of its usual illustrated position,the hanger element 18 could pivot outwardly from the spring frame 16 topermit the U-shaped segment 26 to reach the projection 14 on the cribpost 12 while still maintaining substantially the same disposition ofthe hanger element 18 with respect to the spring frame 16.

The present invention has been described above for purposes ofillustration only and is not intended to be limited by this descriptionor otherwise except as defined by the appended claims. For example, itis to be understood that while the hanger element of the presentinvention has been described above for use in a crib structure, thishanger element could be used in a similar manner to support springframes in a variety of other support structures, as, for example, tosupport a spring frame in a car bed.

What is claimed is:'

1. A spring frame hanger element for suspending a spring frame from acrib structure or the like, said spring frame having a thin plate-likeportion with an aperture therein for receiving said hanger element, saidhanger element comprising an elongated rod having an attaching endportion, an intermediate portion extending from said attaching endportion, and a retaining end portion extending from said intermediateportion oppositely of said attaching end portion, said attaching endportion being attachable to said crib structure for support of saidhanger element therefrom, said intermediate portion being seatable insaid spring frame aperture for suspension support of said spring framethereat and being relatively short to dispose said end portionsoppositely and closely adjacent said spring frame portion, saidretaining end portion being insertable through said spring frameaperture for seating of said intermediate portion therein, saidattaching end portion and said retaining end portion extending from saidintermediate portion angularly with respect thereto for retention ofsaid hanger element in assembly with said spring frame when the springframe is supported by the hanger element in the crib structure and forstabilization of said spring frame against swaying.

2. A hanger element as defined in claim 1 and further characterized inthat said retaining end portion extends generally perpendicularly fromsaid intermediate portion for disposition along said spring frameportion to prevent lateral inward shifting of said spring frame withrespect to said hanger element.

3. A hanger element as defined in claim 2 and further characterized inthat said attaching end portion extends in a direction generallyopposite to the direction of extent of said retaining end portion.

4. A hanger element as defined in claim 2 and further characterized inthat said attaching end portion includes a connecting segment extendingfrom said intermediate portion in substantially perpendicular relationthereto for disposition along said spring frame portion to preventlateral outward shifting of said spring frame with respect to saidhanger element.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,242,307 5/1941 Kroll et a1 5--11 2,297,963 10/1942 Kroll et a1 5-11 2,447,722 8/1948 Webb 5-112,630,582 3/1953 Bukolt 593 X 2,641,772 6/1953 Cook 593 2,835,314 5/1958Neely 267-104 2,895,144 7/1959 Feldman 5-207 3,129,439 4/1964 Michal5207 X DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 5--93

